The real reason why Salesforce's co-CEO quit

Published: Wed, 05/31/23

May 31, 2023

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning. It’s the last day of the month, a calm and peaceful time when sales reps can sit back and enjoy the clean springtime air. Kidding – we know that if you look at your smartwatch, it’ll show your heart rate at a steady 93 right now. In this week’s issue, we cover Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor’s untimely departure, share a Sales Fail about an almost-closed deal, and give some advice to a rep with a crazy long sales cycle. Enjoy.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

72% of top performers (sellers who met quota by 125% or higher) say they "always" put the buyer first

Source: LinkedIn

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

Everybody loves a good rags-to-riches story, including The Daily Mail, which recently profiled Ozzie Blessed (is that his real name?), a sales and marketing consultant from the U.K. who went from gang member to wildly successful (if those Lamborghinis and Rolls Royce’s aren’t rentals) partner at a business consultancy. Ozzy shares his tips for sales success – fairly generic but not bad. You can read the article here.
According to one of our favorite LinkedIn posters, SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin, sales reps have to close approximately 4x to 5x of what they take home. In a recent article on the SaaStr blog, Lemkin sums up the results of VC firm Iconiq’s Definitive Guide to Sales Compensation, which covers comp plans among startups in great detail. You can read the article, which links to the guide, here.

FEATURE

Bret Taylor Quit Salesforce Abruptly After Making A Play to Become Sole CEO

Last November, Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor shocked the business world when he resigned from his position. At the time, Taylor was widely regarded as the successor to Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff. There was much speculation about what really happened, and the fact that the departure came during a time of intense uncertainty at the cloud giant (and at a time when its stock price was cratering) added to the intrigue.

Now, new information from Business Insider’s recent profile of CEO Marc Benioff revealed more details about the departure.

A former executive told Insider that Taylor made an "abrupt" play to become Salesforce's sole CEO which led to "a showdown," where Benioff apparently told Taylor that he wasn't ready. Taylor resigned on November 30, one year after taking the job as co-CEO.

"Nobody expected that, including me. It was a disappointment. That's all there is to it. And then based on that, we had to pivot," Benioff said in an interview.

In 2016, Salesforce acquired Quip, a productivity software startup founded by Taylor, for $750 million. In 2019, Taylor was appointed Salesforce president and chief operating officer, and in November 2021 he was promoted to co-CEO, when Salesforce's stock was at record levels and the outlook for the company looked rosy.

At the same time, activist investors like Starboard Value were pushing Salesforce to take significant cost-cutting measures, and this didn’t sit well with Taylor. He knew the budget cuts meant massive layoffs, and innovation would suffer.

"You could feel and sense [Taylor’s] frustration level of not being able to change the place," a former Salesforce executive told Insider. "And he was the top dog. If you can't feel like you're changing the place as the top dog, it's gotta be frustrating right?"

But, according to the report, it was when Taylor made moves with an eye toward displacing Benioff as leader of the firm that things seemed to fall apart. One can only speculate about Benioff’s reluctance to relinquish control, as discussions about his succession plan have gone on for years. But apparently, Benioff felt that Taylor wasn’t ready, or, (just as likely) was himself not ready to step down from the massively successful firm he’d founded and built.

Like the old saying goes, “If you come at the king and tell him you’re ready to take his place, you better hope he gives you his permission.”

GET INSIGHTS FROM GTM LEADERS AT TOP SAAS COMPANIES

Have you ever tried to Google questions like…

“What resources have you found helpful for defining comp plans in Product-Led Sales?”

“How should we define our first set of PQLs?”

“What type of conversion should I expect from running warm outbound playbooks?”

“Should I replace my SDRs with AI? Just kidding, but is the hype real or overblown?”

These are just a few of the discussions happening in the Product-Led Sales Community from the past two weeks! Get answers to questions you can’t google or easily ask ChatGPT. Get real advice from go-to-market leaders at companies like Zapier, OpenView, Slack, Calendly, and more.

Members of the community get exclusive access to:

Group discussions on go-to-market tactics and strategy
1:1 peer matching
Slack channels dedicated to discussing sales, growth, and operations
Freebies like tickets to Product-Led Summit in Vegas

Join the community and bypass the application using this link.

Join for free!

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What is the top paying metropolitan area for sales and related occupations?

A. New York / Newark / Jersey City, NY/NJ/PA
B. Boston / Cambridge / Nashua, NH/MA
C. San Jose / Sunnyvale / Santa Clara, CA
D. San Francisco / Oakland / Hayward, CA

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

This happened less than six months ago, and is my biggest Sales Fail of all time. I work for a digital agency. We build high-end websites and handle branding, and don’t do any contracts under 50k, though most of our deals start at 100k. It’s a great job – I like what I sell and usually like my clientele, which are high-growth companies and recently funded startups.

The Fail happened with a company that had just raised almost 40m in funding. I had been talking to their head of marketing for close to a year. I originally connected with her when they raised their first round, which was 5m. The marketing team were keen to get moving, but it was difficult to get buy-in from executives, who were (rightly) looking to watch their spending.

But around the time they were raising this next round of funding, the head of marketing started getting more serious about moving forward. We had multiple pitch meetings, and changed the scope of work a bunch. At the end of it, they were going to commit to a $140k contract. It was a really great deal. She gave me the verbal, and we sent over the paperwork the same week they announced the new funding round.

I have to admit, I was already celebrating the deal. There was a watch I had been wanting for a while, an Omega Seamaster, and I literally ordered it online as soon as she gave the verbal. I’m sure you know what happened next. I didn’t hear from her for a few days, then I got an email from her head of growth who let me know that she had been let go, and they were going to hold off on any new agreements until they brought in their new head of marketing, which never actually happened.

The deal was dead. It was absolutely brutal. But a good reminder to never count your deals until they sign (or maybe until they pay). Oh, and I still ended up keeping the watch.

Anonymous Location Withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- May 2023

WORTH A PEEK

Considering switching jobs? Or course you are! Sales reps switch jobs like the Kardashians switch outfits. HubSpot put together a nice list of the 16 common sales job interview questions and how to answer them. If you’re up for another role, check out the article here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I’ve been in marketing and sales at the same company for the last seven years. Although I had other jobs out of college, I would say this one was my first “real” job in my profession. Overall, I’ve loved the company, even though I’ve seen many coworkers come and go and haven’t always felt all that valued (I am the 3rd most senior person including the owner). I never really saw myself doing sales, but as I got more comfortable with the job and the product, I got more comfortable with it.

We sell amenities to housing and residence life at colleges and universities. Selling to this industry is very hard, as there are many hoops to jump through to get to the decision-makers, along with budgets (especially for large, public schools with mandatory state processes). The potential commission earnings are huge and uncapped, but it is very hard to close deals. I work hard all year long, only to have the opportunity to close a deal essentially once a year. Because of this, there aren’t really any achievements throughout the sales season to measure.

I have seen some success, but nothing too outstanding, so now more than ever, I am questioning my ability to sell in this field. I am competitive in everything I do and starting to ask myself if I should move on from this job and look for something else. But I also work from home and have a ton of flexibility, so I would likely be giving up that as well. I really do enjoy like 90% of the job, but that 10% is very stressful and has me constantly questioning my abilities.

I just moved to a large city with a ton of opportunities, but it’s hard for me to get excited about other jobs that I am qualified for. Money is important, but it isn’t everything. Do I stay where I am, get better at my skills, and hope the potential and the reality soon align, or do I seek out something that I can feel more successful in?

Ambivalent in North Carolina

Dear Ambivalent,

You said you enjoy 90% of the job, but that 10% of it is stressful and has you constantly questioning your abilities.

A 90% satisfaction rate is actually pretty incredible for any job, let alone a sales role, where stress and pressure and self-doubt are par for the course. I think if you polled our readers, the overwhelming majority wouldn’t come close to those 90/10 figures.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep an eye out for another opportunity. Challenging yourself is important, and if you’re not feeling like you’re operating at your full potential, then you might want to consider finding a role that pushes you to your limits.

Our advice is to hold on to your current job, but to keep an open mind when it comes to other opportunities. Most people switch jobs every few years (or more frequently than that), but you’ve been with your company for seven. You’ve shown that you have commitment and follow-through. But the question is: will you stay complacent, or will you push yourself to grow?

Quiz Answer: C – San Jose / Sunnyvale / Santa Clara, CA (you can read the source article here)

SHARE THE QUOTA

Help us grow, and we'll send you a reward!

{% if subscriber.custom_field['RH_REFLINK'] != '' %}

Share The Quota, get cool stuff!

Know a salesperson who’d love The Quota? Give them your unique referral link (below), and we’ll give you some awesome rewards when they subscribe.

facebook

twitter

PS: You have referred people so far

{% endif %}

How did you like today's story?

Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Looking for a new gig or to hire for your sales team? Check out our jobs board — powered by RepVue.

Advertise with us

Books

QUOTA MEDIA LLC

651 N. Broad Street., Suite 206
Middletown DELAWARE (DE) 19709
USA

Unsubscribe | Change Subscriber Options